I'm wide awake at 4am again. I've always been a night owl who'll revert back at a moment’s notice! My mind is whirring and planning and excited for this coming year. But… all this energy will be wasted if I don't make concrete plans. I'm reminded of how so many of us get so ramped up when inspiration strikes but fall flat soon after!

Jim Rohn wonderfully ​explains that the successful aren't necessarily smarter than others. They are just doers.

“We intend to act when the idea strikes us, when the emotion is high, but if we delay and we don't translate that into action fairly soon, the intention starts to diminish, and a month from now it's cold and a year from now it can't be found. So set up the discipline when the idea is strong, clear and powerful—that's the time to work the plan. You must capture the emotion and put it into disciplined activities and translate it into equity.”

This is why so many coaches will ask you what steps you going to take within the next 24 hours and this week. They want to know the days and times! This can be a struggle for many of us but commitment to action in advance works.

Say you are going to make the ever popular ‘join a gym’ resolution. By all means do it. ...within the next 24 hours. Then choose your workouts and go 3 times this week. Which days? What time?

I wish you a fire in your belly, a big exciting goal, much momentum and the Happiest of New Year's!

If you'd like some accountability GET IN TOUCH. I'd LOVE to work with you.

"If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse."

​If you're in the mood for a bit of end of year reflecting, settle in under a blanket and nice warm drink. Grab a pen & paper (or your phone). Let’s make a brilliant plan for next year.

​Firstly, ask yourself what do you love to do? What brings you joy? This will come in handy later in this process.

So here goes:Choosing your GoalWhich ONE area of your life are you the most stuck on?What do you most want to change in this area?What one goal would make the most difference once achieved?

Creating Good FeelingWhat are you grateful for in your 'stuck' life area?What have you already achieved or figured out in relation to your chosen area?

Why do you want this outcome? Use the '5 Whys' to get to the deeper reasons. For example, ‘I want to run a 5k’ 1st why: ‘because I want to get fitter’​2nd why (why do you want to get fitter?): ‘because I don’t want to be fat and tired all the time. 3rd why: ‘because I want to look better and have more energy’ 4th why: ‘because I want to be able to keep up with my friends’5th why: ‘because I want to feel included’MotivationHow will things pan out for you if you DON’T reach your goal?How motivated are you to complete your goal on a scale of 1 to 10? Read this to help you get a goal your excited by and motivated to succeed with.Where can you turn for encouragement and inspiration (friend or reading, watching, listening material)?

StrategyWhich actions would most help you complete your goal easily, effectively and quickly?How can you incorporate activities you love into your plan (as part of the actions themselves or as reward)?ActionsWhat task will you do in the next 24 hours to get the ball rolling?What 3-5 tasks will you do this week?How will you stay accountable and keep track of your progress?

When you take some time to consider what you want, how you will get there and why it's worth it, you might be surprised at what you can achieve!

Is trying to visualize your success not working for you or making you feel worse?

It might be because it’s only good for people who already believe they can reach the desired outcome. Amit Amin explains that if you have confidence in your ability to succeed, but are just lacking in motivation, mental contrasting (a visualisation concept developed by Gabriele Oettingen) can really help you. If you don’t have confidence it can do more harm than good though.

I’ll explain the technique in a minute but first ask yourself if you truly believe you can do what you are setting out to do. If in doubt try this first:

List reasons you ARE CAPABLE of being successful. You may need to add some evidence to convince your subconscious such as ‘I am capable of losing 10 pounds in 10 weeks because I know how to eat 500 less calories a day’ or I have lost weight before so I can do it again. Show your mind proof then, if you are sure you feel confident try this mental contrasting exercise:

List the positive aspects of completing your goal then focus on the biggest benefits and visualize them in depth. List the obstacles in your way and visualize the most prominent ones in depth.

Simple as that.

Why does it work? It increases the mind’s connection between obstacle and future reward. For example, your daily calorie deficit gets strongly connected to the benefits of losing 10lb.

Future visualisation works because in the past, before TV & story, we could only imagine attainable outcomes. Our imagination was only used for consideration and planning. Therefore our brains assumed anything it could see was attainable.

And for those goals you can’t really convince yourself you can achieve? ‘In some cases, it may make sense to reduce commitment towards unattainable goals. That way, time and energy can be freed up for more reasonable goals – ones which better match your capabilities.’

So aim high by all means but make sure you take steps to ensure your self belief can keep up!

Do you feel in your heart of hearts you’re going to quit on your New Year’s Resolutions pretty soon after you make them?

Nooo!…. You’ll get there. You just need to make them meaningful to you!

One way to get motivated is to become aware of how your goal impacts important areas of your life. If it doesn't make a positive difference you can look for ways to change that. List the things that are most important to you and find the connection between them and your goals. Here’s an example using Action for Happiness’ 10 Keys to happier living (read ‘life areas to work on to have a happier life’).

Working example. Running a half marathon.

Giving My family will benefit from me being less stressed out when I run. I could make this benefit more people by running for a charity.

Connecting - I can run with others and make new friends. I can be more present with my loved ones after my run has cleared my head.

Nice as it is to have friends who agree with you, when it comes to reaching your goals it's good to spend time with people who “Make you a better person support you, push you to meet your goals, inspire you and help you transform”

Imagine sitting down with five friends to talk about something you want to achieve. A dreamer, a driver, a motivator, a supporter and a devil's advocate.

The dreamer helps you visualise your goal and get excited. They are someone you can bounce ideas off and grow your idea.

Next you talk to the driver who helps you break it down into a plan of action and shows you how you can get it done.

Then the motivator helps you connect your goal to your dreams and what really matters to you.

The supporter puts you at ease and shares your excitement in your achievements.

And finally, the devil's advocate helps you solidify your plan by asking loads of questions and checking for holes.

Wouldn't you feel great by the end of that meeting? I urge you to seek out a range of friends and business associates to support you and help you grow.

What quality in a friend do you need right now?

To summarize :

“A dreamer will help you dream it.A driver will turn dreams into reality.A motivator will inspire you every step of the way.A supporter will never leave your side, through good and bad times.A devil’s advocate will cut through the BS and tell you the real deal.”

The five types of friends add quotes are from Jan Johnston Osburn found on success.com

Be kind to yourself by trying just ONE of these steps this holiday season or use the list to get your creative juices flowing to think up your own ideas.

Workout early before all the festive activities start. Think calorie burning cardio.

Do eat everything you like but in small doses.

If you're not the host then keep busy by doing some of the running around (too busy to eat and staying active).

At dinner have a small ‘ first' helping, eat slow and ‘ forget' to get seconds. No one will notice. Probably.

Avoid constant grazing. Put all the sweet treats away and get the family together (or just you) to have coffee and snacks together at specific times

Have a family/ reflective solo walk after lunch.

Give away your leftovers, have people over on boxing day to finish them off or freeze so you don't feel you have to eat this week.

Sign up for a race or book a beach holiday early in the year so you have a reason to get back on the wagon if the festive season makes you fall off.

With your festivities already planned now is not the time to try and make big changes. There is always next year :) If you're feeling particularly bad about how your holiday season went maybe you can add a note to your calendar to make a healthier plan for next time...

Say what???! Reduce calories in a food just by soaking first? "Just add a teaspoon of coconut oil to the boiling water. Then add a half a cup of rice. Simmer for 40 minutes or boil for 25. Then—and this is key—refrigerate it overnight (or 12 hours). You reduce the calories in a given serving by up to 60 percent"

I was just going to share Selena Yeager's article found on runnersworld.com but it has so many awesome hacks and facts that I simply had to share a load of quotes! Do read the full article when you have time.

It's not just the calories in your booze that make you fat. It's how you act when you drink:"if you flood your system with a fishbowl margarita, you won’t be burning anything else for hours. With your inhibitions blunted with booze, you’ll also likely toss down a few hundred more in the form of bar food"

Eat mushrooms. They are very filling and low calorie. Use them instead of meat:"men and women who chose mushroom-based lunches ate 444 fewer calories while still feeling just as satisfied. "

Exercise early."when you exercise before breakfast you can burn between 260 and 280 more calories throughout the day than when you exercise at other times. "

Eating out is asking for trouble. Cook at home:"the average chain restaurant meal delivered a whopping 1,128 calories—nearly half a day’s worth."

Aim for saity and don't juice fruit:"...ask yourself what would make you feel more full, 300 calories of apple juice (about 2 ½ cups) or 300 calories of apples (about 4 apples),”

Soda? Just stop it:"It’s flat-out awful for you and packs on pounds and raises your risk for diabetes the more you drink. "

Stop scoffing your food down:"quick eaters not only consumed more than 10 percent more calories, but also felt less satisfied when the meal was done—and hence more likely to keep snacking afterward. ""slow eaters also drank about a half-cup more water during the meal, which helps increase metabolism and keep calorie intake in check. Take smaller bites, chew each bite twice as long as you usually do, and put down your utensils between bites."

Lack of sleep makes you hungry-tired. Prioritise sleep:"stress hormones like cortisol rise and your body goes into fat-storage mode...You’re also likely to eat more—like 500 calories a day more."

This will help you reach optimum hydration and make you eat less. Drink water before meals:"Pour yourself a pint (of water) and drink it before your next meal, and you may eat about 90 fewer calories by the time you push away from the table"

Let's face it. Trying to lose weight can be a nightmare! Finding the right diet and exercise can be exhausting and disheartening when you put all that time and energy into change only to fail! On top of that, when you fail to stick to the plans you made, your confidence takes a beating.

We all want a great body and a long blissful life but triumphing over toxic habits is hard. Most of us never really get the hang of working out or eating delicious healthy food.

So how can we get better?

Let's take a look at successful beings. “Top performers in every field -- athletes, musicians, CEOs, artists -- they are all more consistent than their peers. They show up and deliver day after day while everyone else gets bogged down with the urgencies of daily life.” 1

How can we mere mortals be more consistent?

Try exercising for 20 mins (or 5 or 10 mins) every day for 7 days then reduce to 3 longer workouts a week. Choose something easy to start with, the aim here is to form the habit not wreck your body and motivation.

“There’s something about reaching small goals that motivates you in other areas in your life as well. Fitness helps improve my career, my relationships and my overall outlook on life.” 2

If exercising consistently feels like something you'll never achieve let me cheer you on through your first 30 days of, or return to, exercise. We'll create a wonderful program for your personal goals and get your exercise habit established. I'm excited to work with you and give you an insider view on health and fitness.